In computer graphics, three-dimensional (3D) modeling involves generation of a representation of a 3D surface of an object. The representation may be referred to as a 3D object data model, and can be rendered or displayed as a two-dimensional image via 3D rendering or displayed as a three-dimensional image. 3D object data models represent a 3D object using a collection of points in 3D space, connected by various geometric entities such as triangles, lines, curved surfaces, etc. Various techniques exist for generating 3D object data models utilizing point clouds and geometric shapes, for example.
Being a collection of data, 3D models can be created by hand, algorithmically, or based on data from objects that are scanned, for example. As an example, an artist may manually generate a 3D image of an object that can be used as the 3D model. As another example, a given object may be scanned from a number of different angles, and the scanned images can be combined to generate the 3D image of the object. As still another example, an image of an object may be used to generate a point cloud that can be algorithmically processed to generate the 3D image.
In some examples, a 3D scanner may collect data associated with a shape and appearance of an object. For example, the 3D scanner may create a point cloud of geometric samples on a surface of the object. The point cloud may represent distances to the surface at points visible in a field of view of the 3D scanner, and 3D position information for the points may be determined. Additionally, the 3D scanner may determine color information for the points of the surface.